21: Chapter 21 Preparation, Departure

Two days later.

Having just finished practicing the "Refining Qi into Spirit" technique, Wang An was in his villa, eating the Five-Profit Nourishing Paste he had made over the past few days.

On the other side, Wang An's Incarnation at the company finally received the goods he had previously ordered.

Files, scrapers, grinders, saws, chisels, vernier calipers, micrometers, and other tools, along with carbon fiber composite sheets, new composite nylon materials, eccentric wheels, alloy materials, optical sights, and other material components.

Bringing these tools and materials, the Incarnation arrived at a specially partitioned studio.

The design for the compound crossbow had already been completed.

He started with the bow limbs, using alloy materials to first create the rail and the mounting holes for other components.

Next came the mechanical structures like the trigger and the latch, followed by the stock and the grip, which were processed last.

He fused the carbon fiber composite sheets to press out the bow body.

After all the parts were processed, he proceeded with assembly.

The Incarnation also had to perform test calibrations and other procedures on the newly made compound crossbow to identify existing issues and repeatedly refine it to improve accuracy.

At the same time, he had to craft a batch of high-quality, low-wind-drift carbon arrows. Only after the refinement was complete did the [Technician] profession meet the requirements for job-changing.

On the main body's side, he immediately took out the job-change stone and successfully took on the [Technician] profession.

[Technician]

Function: Improves precision operation learning ability and makes it easier to find suitable learning methods.

Skill: Perception Enhancement, improves the ability to perceive minute dimensional and geometric errors.

After the successful job-change, the Incarnation immediately used the new skill to re-polish the compound crossbow to correct deviations and improve accuracy.

Final experiments showed that for a standard target, the accuracy was roughly within range, with an effective range of 85m.

Its draw weight reached about 140 pounds, and its power far exceeded the Compound Bow that Wang An still had on custom order.

However, both weapons had their pros and cons.

The compound crossbow had great power and high accuracy, but it was slow to reload.

In the face of unexpected situations, it basically only had the power of one shot.

There was no time for a second shot, and compound crossbows were strictly regulated items in every country, allowed only for private use.

The Compound Bow, on the other hand, had the advantages of a faster rate of fire, portability, lack of regulation, and ease of acquisition.

Wang An decided to make a few more and store them in his space for emergencies.

The morning of the 18th, at the main entrance of the Changnan Interstellar company.

Exploration Team leader Incarnation Captain Wang Quan, logistics coordinator Xu Feng, and reserve members Chen Yanshan and Liu Tingquan were performing the final loading of equipment and supplies.

Seeing that the loading was almost finished, the Incarnation said,

"Xu Feng, start counting the supplies now. Prepare to depart."

Xu Feng immediately put down what he was doing and replied, "Understood."

The four auxiliary personnel—Chen Zhenhua, Hu Jun, Li Guohua, and Mo Yuemei—

were quite excited. They had been coming over for training almost every day for the past week or more and had become somewhat numb to it, but now it was finally about to begin.

For transporting the supplies this time, the company specifically rented a truck.

In addition to the off-road vehicle the company had originally purchased, two SUVs for the four of them were also parked nearby.

When Xu Feng finished the count and signaled that there were no issues, the Exploration Team prepared to depart.

Wang An, Manager Hu, procurement officer Zhang Xiaofeng, and intelligence analyst Yang Asahi were also there to see them off.

This time, the destination, Huaiyu Mountain, was a bit further than Kun Mountain, which they had visited last time; it would take about 2–3 hours to arrive.

At 10:00 AM, the Exploration Team entered the territory of Huaiyu Mountain. Half an hour later, they arrived at Huangcunkou; the information had already been gathered beforehand.

Upon arriving at Huangcunkou, the Exploration Team stopped. There was a supply camp established by the Recovery Bureau here.

The four vehicles were checked by the patrol unit before entering the camp and parking in the designated camping area.

A staff member in uniform walked out of a camp marked with the Recovery Bureau sign and asked, "Do you have a reservation? Which Exploration Team is this?"

The Incarnation opened the exploration declaration on his phone, showed it to the staff member, and said,

"We are the Exploration Team from Changnan Interstellar. We have already filed and booked."

The staff member nodded, operated his phone for a moment, and said,

"Please, Exploration Team members, present your identification. I will verify your entry permit."

And so, after completing a series of registration permits,

the Incarnation gathered everyone and said,

"Today, we will mainly focus on gathering information and familiarizing ourselves with the environment. Xu Feng, you handle the logistics."

"Chen Yanshan, Liu Tingquan, you two come with me to gather information about the other Exploration Teams."

"As for you four: Chen Zhenhua, Hu Jun, Li Guohua, and Mo Yuemei."

"Set up our camping tents and get used to the environment here."

"Finally, we will meet back at the camp at 6:00. Dismissed!"

Everyone received their tasks and dispersed to busy themselves with their respective duties.

The camp was relatively large and could accommodate seven or eight Exploration Teams.

The Incarnation looked at the other Exploration Teams; they were basically all the same, with four or five vehicles forming a circle and several tents in the middle. From time to time, he saw logistics personnel left behind moving in and out.

The Incarnation, Chen Yanshan, and Liu Tingquan each went to a different Exploration Team to ask about the situation, planning to regroup and summarize later.

The Incarnation arrived at a relatively large camp with two trucks and four off-road vehicles. Judging by the scale, there were at least seven or eight people, and possibly more than a dozen.

Walking inside, he saw a young man also preparing food.

He went over, offered him a cigarette, and asked,

"Brother, my name is Captain Wang Quan. Our Exploration Team just arrived. What kind of Exploration Team is yours? It's quite large."

The young man who was processing ingredients replied,

"You can just call me Zheng Hao, brother. We are the Exploration Team from the Chen Martial Arts Hall."

"Our martial arts hall has hundreds of formal disciples, so of course, the scale is large."

Seeing that he was somewhat proud of his martial arts hall, Wang An played along, gradually learning about the recent situation of the Exploration Teams.

He gradually learned that the Chen Martial Arts Hall had 12 people here this time.

This Zheng Hao and another junior brother of his, being the youngest disciples, were left here to handle logistics.

The others had already gone into the mountains to explore.

At the same time, he also learned that there were three other Exploration Teams here: one was a professional Exploration Team hired by the Tianshi Mansion, and another was an Exploration Team formed by the Chunhe Aluminum Industry group itself.

The last one, the strongest, was an Exploration Team specially formed from outstanding soldiers selected from the military, now affiliated with the Recovery Bureau's special recovery squad.

It was said that they not only recovered meteorites, but those Mutant creatures were also their hunting targets.

They often brought out the corpses of Mutant creatures from the mountains. They had been here for over ten days already.

Seeing that he had asked enough, Wang An exchanged contact information with him and returned to the camp.

Chen Yanshan and Liu Tingquan also returned to report the information they had collected to Wang An.

Chen Yanshan was a tall, thin man who often harvested wild honey, rock climbed, and traveled on foot as if walking on flat ground back in his hometown.

Later, the mountains became increasingly dangerous, so he stopped doing that and came out to find work. He was attracted by the recruitment requirements and high salary of Changnan Interstellar, and the job still involved entering the mountain forests he was familiar with.

The team was equipped with weapons, had complete gear, and sufficient supplies.

Unlike when he was alone, fighting single-handedly while harvesting wild honey, which was very dangerous.